Marauder Vignettes
by IrishLeFay
Summary: A series of one-shots about the Marauders in their Hogwarts days. Assumes relationships between RL/SB and LE/JP. Lost in the Woods: Remus gets lost in the Forbidden Forest after the full moon. Part II posted!
1. Lost in the Woods: Part I

Disclaimer: I do not own the Potterverse, JK Rowlings does.

Authors Note: This is the first piece in a series of vignettes I am writing about the Marauders back in there school days. Consider it a bunch of one-shots strung together. My inspiration for these often comes from a writing prompt/challenge, a song, or something of the like. For each vignette I will state what my prompt was. Some of these vignettes may have more than one part to them, and will be labeled as such; otherwise, there is no reason to assume they are in any kind of order.

Marauder Vignettes:

Lost in the Woods: Part I

By: Irish

Prompt: RL/SB fuh-q-fest challenge #4: One night, during a full moon romp, someone gets lost in the Forest.

-O-O-O-O-O-

Remus opened his eyes slowly; already aware of how badly he hurt. Of course Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail had been with Moony last night, but that didn't change how hard it was on his body to simply transform. Besides, "better" didn't mean things went smoothly. It just wasn't torture.

The scent of forest loam filled his nose, not at all the smell of the shrieking shack. The shack smelled like dust, blood and piss from Moony marking his territory. The light was brighter, and greener, than it should have been. Remus rolled over on his back with a grunt of pain, then a gasp of alarm. He was still out in the forest! The canopy over him was thick and shaggy with new spring growth, letting the early morning sun through with a greenish filter.

Remus sat up, stiff as a bolt, looking around him wildly terrified that he would see a bloody lifeless body or three right next to him, that something had gone terribly wrong… but no, there were no bodies. There was blood, but the smell was his own.

"Oh thank God," Remus whispered, allowing himself to collapse back to the ground again, the relief and pain making him black out again, the world going dim, gray, than black.

-O-O-O-O-O-

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Sirius half-shouted. "He's not here, Jamie!" His gray eyes, stricken, met the brown eyes of his best friend through James' coke-bottle glasses. Still in the doorway of the tunnel that lead out, Peter wrung his hands, teeth fretting his lip.

"M-m-maybe he's just gone back to the castle already, we did get back here awfully late." Peter offered, looking hopefully back down the tunnel.

"Nope, no dice," James said tensely. He had moved to one boarded up window, peering through a narrow crack. "Because Madame Pomfry is on her way down here. At least I assume that white blob moving towards the willow is her."

"Fuck!" Sirius said again, striding over to the window and looking out another crack. "Yeah that's her… Merlin, she's going to think Remus let himself out, before he changed!" Sirius' eyes went huge and round all over again.

"Oh shit…" Now it was James who looked stricken. "And he won't tell anyone, either, no matter what."

James' last statement rung in the room. If Remus had done something, had attacked someone, and all indications were that he'd intentionally given his wolf-self the opportunity, it could mean that he'd be "humanely put down."

"No. No. Here's what we're going to do. James, go to the front door. Kick it in, or something, I'll transfigure, and go at it from this side. If it looked like someone was stupid enough to try and break in, damaged the door, and Moony was able to get out that way…"

James and Peter didn't even reply, just running for the front door. Sirius transfigured to his Padfoot and bounded after them. It was very hard on all three of them. Peter and James threw themselves at the door, and kicked at the latch until they were both bruised and hurting. The second it was damaged enough that Padfoot could get a tooth-hold on where it gaped, he tore into it with teeth and claws. They finished the job just as Madam Pomfry opened the door that lead from the tunnel to the bedroom of the shack. All three boys shifted into their Animagus forms and ran for the forest, Padfoot letting Prongs lead so it looked like a stupid dog had gotten it in his head to chase a deer. Padfoot's sharp ears could hear the gasp of Madame Pomfry as he ran. It took everything in him not to throw his head back and howl with anguish.

Padfoot and Prongs stopped well into the forest and transformed back, waiting for Wormtail to catch up.

"We have to get back to the tower, they'll come check with us as soon as Pomfry gets to Dumbledore. If we're gone—" Peter called, panting, as he trotted up to them, apparently having shifted further back than the other two, his rat form not able to cover much ground.

"They'll think we're doing a panty-raid on Hufflepuff, or snuck out and came down to Hogsmead and are passed out on the floor of the Hogshead or something." Sirius scoffed. "We need to find him, before someone else does."

-O-O-O-O-O-

Remus came back to his senses slowly. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out. The light hadn't changed much, though, so it couldn't have been too long. This time, he simply lay still, taking inventory of his hurts. It wasn't too surprising that he felt worse than usual. Moony had been a real wanker last night, he recalled vaguely. Prongs and Padfoot had been very hard pressed to keep him in line. In fact, they hadn't, obviously, since he was lying alone in the Forbidden Forrest.

This was bad, Remus was realizing slowly. Not only was his own risky behavior and betrayal of Dumbledore's trust going to become immediately apparent the second Madam Pomfry came looking for him, he might be very lucky to get back to face his punishment all. Moony could keep up an easy lope for hours that was almost twice as fast as Remus could run in human form, and could sprint short distances fast enough to pace a muggle car on a residential road. It was theoretically possible he wasn't even in the same county any more. He was hurt, naked, without food or water (both of which he was usually in desperate need of after the full moon) in a forest full of things that would eat him as a light snack.

Remus sat up again, this time, slowly and controlled, the muscles in his torso protesting loudly. When he started to give himself a look over, though, he almost passed out again. His left leg had been hurting furiously, but he had assumed it was a wound he'd given himself, a cramp, or a combination of the two. As he actually looked at it to inspect the damage, he realized it was far, far worse. His leg was a mangled mess, his ankle turned at a nasty angle, clamped between the jagged teeth of a steel wolf trap. Deep furrows were carved not just into his flesh, but deep enough that the white glimmer of bone could be seen, starting just below his knee. He had stepped in it as Moony, obviously, and the trap had caught higher on the wolf's shorter and narrower leg. When Remus had changed back, the trap didn't make any accommodations for the shift in size of its prey. He leaned over and wretched violently. There was nothing in his stomach so nothing came up, but he wretched all the same.

Remus lost another chunk of time to hysteria. He wasn't prone to it, usually calm and rational, nor was he unaccustomed to being badly hurt. It was different though, to have it inflicted on him by something else. He knew what to expect from himself. He'd chewed off his own fingers before— and then thrown them back up—but he'd come to expect that kind of thing. Having his leg mangled by an antiquated trap? That was a bit out of left field.

He gathered himself slowly, forcing himself to stop gagging, to stop crying, and to stop wishing for his parents. They weren't here. No one was. Unless he planned to just lay here and wait to die, he had to get it together and cope. No one was going to save him; his only choice was to save himself.

It took a while to psych himself up to it, but finally he managed to shift, very carefully, so that he could reach the steel-jawed trap. First, he tried simply prying it open with his hands, but even with the extra strength his lycanthropy afforded him, it didn't so much as budge. The mechanism that released the trap was rusted, and Remus couldn't actually see it to try and find another way to release it, it bypass it. Out of options, he found the chain attached to it, and followed it back to the stake in the ground. Even that didn't go easily, and by the time he'd freed the stake from the earth, his head was spinning and he lay back again, closing his eyes until the light headed feeling eased. He was no longer tied in place, but he had no idea how he was going to cover the ground between here and Hogwarts and now that the adrenalin he'd been feeling wore off, and shock set in a little, he was starting to feel cold.

-O-O-O-O-O-

"Can you track him? Can Padfoot, I mean?" James asked looking around the woods, chewing his lip.

"I can try, but I wasn't able to last night after we lost him. He crossed that creek, and I lost his scent. One of us should go into town, though, just in case." In case the worst had happened, and instead of continuing deep in the woods, Moony had doubled back and had slaked his blood lust. "Peter, you go, take my mirror, if anything's happened…" Sirius fished in his pocket and got out the enchanted mirror he and James used to communicate across distance.

"I'll let you know right away." Peter nodded solemnly and took the mirror from Sirius. The gravity of the situation was evident, as the chubby boy found his way to a trot. Sirius turned back to James. "This is our fault, Prongs, we have to find a way to fix it."

"We will, Si, We'll get it sorted out. Maybe he's already back at the castle, ya know?" James offered bracingly. "His mum…"

"She'll skin us alive," Sirius replied without inflection. "We have to find him. It has to be okay, that's the only option. Come on, let's go back to where I lost the scent last night, and work from there."

-O-

There was nothing, the scent disappeared in the water, and Padfoot couldn't find it on the far bank no matter how he sniffed. There was another distraught conversation, and although Sirius was nearly pulling his hair out, managed to come up with another idea. They ran back to the castle at a dead sprint, reaching the courtyard just as Dumbledore strode with worried purpose out the front door of the castle with McGonagall at his heels.

Sirius and James both froze as the eyes of their Headmaster and Head of House locked on them, like a pair of falcons on a pair of mice. Sirius couldn't help it; he froze where he stood, his face stricken.

"Boys!" McGonagall shrilled. "Where in Merlin's name have you been! What's wrong with you two, have you seen Mr. Lupin?!"

"Ur, I… we… uh…" Sirius stammered, his entire brain locking up, like the gears of a rusty clock.

"Looking for him, we… we snuck out last night." James said quickly. "Went into town, ya know? On the way back, we heard he'd gone missing. We've been to all his regular spots. We thought he was just late in the library, we swear!"

It wasn't great, Sirius thought, heart still pounding, but relaxing just a little. They weren't going to be caught, at last not yet. His moment of relief was short lived, though. The headmaster's eyes hadn't left him, as James made his frantic denial for the both of them. Now the imposing man took three steps forward and seized Sirius by the front of his very rumpled shirt.

"What do you know Black!" He demanded, actually raising his voice. "What do you know about all this!" His blue eyes, usually twinkling good-naturedly were stormy and hard, his face inches from Sirius'. Sirius forced himself to think only about what he didn't know, thoughts circling on only that Remus was gone, and Sirius had no idea where he was, both of which were perfectly true. He wasn't sure if the Headmaster would go so far as to use legilimency on him, but he wasn't willing to risk it.

"I swear… we don't know…" Sirius meeped. "We're worried sick, sir… we're going to go get our brooms and fly over head, see if we can see anything." It was more than he meant to admit to, but it could have been far worse. Dumbledore seemed unsatisfied with his response, but let him go, brushing his hands over Sirius' shoulder to straighten his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, we're just very worried for him. This is unlike him, and he is… unwell. Please, go to the tower and stay there. We'll let you know when we find him." The Headmaster said more calmly.

"Sure… sure…" Sirius said shakily. The headmaster angry was not an experience he ever wanted to have again. He took a couple awkward steps back and ran into James, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders and all but dragged him past the two authorities and into the school.

They ran up to the their bedroom, grabbing their brooms, James grabbed a pair of binoculars he had for watching quiddich games. Sirius found Remus' satchel and pawed through it. It was enchanted to carry five times its actual physical volume, while remaining light and unbulky. Remus usually had it stuffed with all kinds of random emergency supplies, first aid things, spare clothes, in addition to things like safety pins, muggle matches, and whatever books and notebooks he wanted to have with him. Remus' mother was a midwife and herbalist, and his father was involved with a Republican paramilitary in Remus' hometown of Belfast. Between the two of them, Remus had been raised to always be prepared. Sirius just threw a blanket in the satchel as well, and called it good.

"Good call," James nodded. They took off right out of their bedroom window in the tower and headed straight for the forest.

-O-O-O-O-O-

Remus was able to smell the running water of the creek he'd crossed over once he managed to smell past his own blood. Unable to stand, he'd simply crawled back to the small river. He dragged himself to the very edge of it and drank deeply. It tasted like dirt and if Remus hadn't had the constitution of werewolf, he might have thought twice, as he was practically begging to contract dysentery. As it was though, he was sure he could fight it off. Besides, if he wasn't found before nightfall, it might be rather moot. Although he was able to heal wounds with great speed, and suffer far more damage than a normal human before he even slowed down, exposure could kill him. Further more, he couldn't heal the damage to his leg with the trap still holding the bone out of alignment. Or if it did start to heal, it would only heal improperly, as the torn-away flesh and muscle was already starting to do.

Thirst slaked for the moment, Remus turned over on his back and looked up at the bright sky. The canopy parted here for the water. The sun warmed him a little too. There was very little else he could do in his current state. There were a lot of skills he had acquired from his parents over the years, survival skills that he'd read about just for the sake of knowledge, but he doubted he'd have the skill to rub sticks together and make fire. Nor would whatever meager shelter he could manage to scrap together be any help when he was starkers.

Remus lay quietly for hours, drinking when he was thirsty, tossing rocks into the river just to watch them splash, but his stomach complained mercilessly about being empty. He was weak with hunger, as he fasted almost the entire day of the full moon. With the blood loss he'd suffered, and the shock, and everything else, he was already quite woozy with hunger even though it had only been a little over twenty-four hours since he'd last eaten. As the sun started to sink again he simply laid back, shivering. Deer came right up to him, giving him only a few meters berth as they came down to the water to drink as well. The moon, faux full, slowly rose in the sky, drowning out the stars with its light. That was too bad, Remus thought; he'd have liked to find the Dog Star. Between that and the deer near at hand, it would have been almost like having his friends with him. He was glad when the shivering stopped, it hurt to shiver.

Author's Note: Watch for Part II coming soon!


	2. Lost in the Woods: Part II

Disclaimer: I do not own the Potterverse, JK Rowlings does.

Marauder Vignettes:

Lost in the Woods: Part II

By: Irish

Prompt: RL/SB fuh-q-fest challenge #4: One night, during a full moon romp, someone gets lost in the Forest.

-O-O-O-O-O-

James looked back at his best friend, whose eyes and nose were red and raw from constant rough swipes of his sleeve. It could have been the cold up this high, but James knew better. "Si…" He called back over his shoulder. How could he tell Sirius they should stop? It was their fault Moony was lost, and Sirius loved Moony. Loved Remus. No matter what anyone said, James knew that sixteen wasn't too young to be in love. He was, after all, even if his affections weren't returned.

"Don't you dare say it, Jamie!" Sirius snarled, pulling his broom up besides James' to hover. "We're not giving up! We're not!"

"We can't see. Even you can't." James' eyesight wasn't so hot, even with his glasses, especially at night, but Sirius had an eagle's eye. It wouldn't matter though. The only chance they'd had was of the color contrast between Remus' pale skin and the dark of the forest. They wouldn't be able to see that now.

"Fine. Fuck you. Go back if you want. I'm not going to stop looking until he's home." Sirius said, angling his broom back towards the creek. They'd been flying zigzags over it, hoping Moony had stayed close to it.

"What, and lose you too? Marauders stick together." James relented, following after Sirius. He was hard to see in the dark, black school robes, black hair, blending into the night around him. "Just don't lose me either." James called.

The moon rose over their heads, casting a new light onto the treetops, lighting Sirius up like a stage light. James mostly kept his eyes on his friend, seriously not liking the idea of getting separated from him.

"Oh gods! Gods, Jamie, I think I see him!" Sirius shouted suddenly, taking off in a steep dive as they started to cross back over the creek.

"Si! Wait!" James hesitated a moment, then with clenched teeth and a death grip, followed Sirius' downward trajectory. It wasn't the dive that had him nervous; it was the tree branches he couldn't really see. He did see what had initiated the sudden dive, though. Something on the edge of the river was glowing white, almost literally, and that goal had a vague human shape to it. Moony was very pale, so pale most people thought that's where the nickname came from. Against the indistinct darkness of the forest floor, the white moonlight reflected of his equally white skin.

Sirius pulled out of his dive so sharply, James almost collided with him, managing to veer off just enough to land, staggering a bit, on the ground, and not on Sirius. Sirius had let his broom just drop to lie in the scattered leaves. James did take a moment to at least prop his own against a tree. It _was_ Remus though; they had managed to find him. That there were no relieved greetings, or even droll sarcasm from the wolf, though, suggested that he wasn't well. From the forest, sets of glowing eyes looked out at them, probably the deer Sirius had scattered like bowling pins.

"Remus, Remus wake up!" Sirius' voice was tight and high with worry. There was a soft crack of flesh against flesh, then Sirius shook him again. "Moony, wake up, damn you!"

"Gentle, Padfoot," James called, trotting over to them.

"He's so cold, Jamie!" Sirius' voice wavered, and James felt his own heart leap to his throat. What could kill a werewolf, even in human form? Of all of them, Remus was nearly immortal when it came to physical injury. James dropped to his knees on Remus' opposite side. Sirius had his frail body cradle in his arms. Hesitantly, James felt for a pulse against the cool skin of his throat.

"He's alive, his heart is beating." James said with relief. In fact, Moony was starting to stir, moving his head just a little. James snatched the satchel of Remus' from Sirius' shoulder, grabbing the blanket they'd packed and throwing it around him.

"Careful of his foot," Sirius muttered, shifting his grip on Remus to wrap him more thoroughly in the blanket.

"Luminos," James said, holding up his wand and pulling up the blanket. He had seen something was wrong, but he hadn't stopped to look at it. "Holy fuck!" He quickly covered it with the blanket again; a little worried he might get sick.

"Siri?" Remus whimpered.

"Yeah, it's me, sweetheart. Jamie's here too. We've got you. Just relax, okay? We're going to get you back to the castle in wink." Sirius soothed, tucking the blanket more around Remus. James was trying to brave lifting the corner of the blanket again.

"I'm cold," Remus said, voice rough.

"You're more than cold," Sirius replied, fumbling his wand out of his back pocket and tapping the blanket lightly as he muttered a warming spell. "We grabbed your satchel. Can you get your head together? I don't know how to patch you up enough to move you."

"It's a fucking trap, Sirius, on his leg! Like muggles use for hunting. Who would set something like that out here?" James had lifted the blanket again; grimacing as he looked at Remus' mangled leg.

"Help me sit up," Remus said, his teeth starting to chatter convulsively as the heating spell started to bring up his core temperature. "Prongs, stop poking at that, before my foot falls off, there's food in my satchel, find it." Remus' voice seemed to be gaining strength now that he had people to boss around.

"It wouldn't really, would it?" James asked, wide eyed, as he quickly let the blanket drop over it again, and immediately moving over to where the satchel had been dropped. Sirius had shifted so that he was more behind Remus, helping to prop him in a sitting position, his hands caressing Remus all over, as if to reassure himself that the other boy was still there.

"No. Also, I should have a pair of pants in there. I'd like to have my assets covered when we return to the castle, as much as I'm sure Madam Pomfry gets a cheap thrill out of seeing my bits."

"No one's going to care that your naked Remus," Sirius' tone was somewhere between incredulous and exasperated. "They'll just be happy your safe."

"I'll care," Remus insisted.

"Be that as it may, I'm not sure you'll physically be able to get them on, with that trap." James shook his head. He found an apple somewhere in the depths of the satchel and tossed it to Sirius. Sirius didn't even to get a chance to hand it to Remus, though, as the other boy had simply grabbed Sirius' hand and was eating the apple out of it, apparently to ravenous to wait even a second for it to be handed it to him.

"Whoa, Moony, leave my fingers," Sirius giggled with nervous energy, he didn't try and retrieve his hand though, letting Remus eat from it. Remus devoured about half the apple before he sheepishly let go of Sirius and took the apple from him to finish eating it on his own.

"You two need to get that trap off my leg," Remus said as he continued with the apple, speaking with his mouth full.

"Shouldn't we leave that to an expert? Ya know, like Madam Pomfry?" James cringed, glancing towards Remus' covered feet.

"You think she's got a special licensure in trap removal?" Remus scoffed. "Each of you just grab a side and pull. The two of you together should be strong enough to get it off. Besides, she'd either find two strong men to do the same thing, or use a spell, but I can't imagine what spell you'd use, open sesame?"

James considered this a moment, than nodded reluctantly. "I suppose it'll be mighty hard to fly you out of here if we don't," he said. "What will you need out of here to patch up?" James held up the satchel.

"There should be a rolled bandage. Other than that, I'll just need to borrow a wand for a moment." Remus tried to sound more confident than he felt. He realized belatedly that maybe he should have waited to eat the apple, as what came next may make him just throw it up again. He took the time to finish every morsel but the stem, including the core, before directing James and Sirius down to his foot. Both boy's hesitated and balked as they each grasped one side of the jaw trap. It was all their strength to slowly force it open, the rusted hinges making a dreadful screeching sound as they did. Remus quickly lifted his leg out of the trap, ignoring the pain, though he desperately wanted to black out again.

Once his foot was resting safely on the ground, Remus did lay back and gray out for a moment, only listening vaguely as the other two boys let go together at the count of three, and the trap snapped shut again with a resounding clap.

"Merlin, it did that on your leg?" James grimaced again. "How are you not screaming in pain?"

"Well, I'm at least slightly in shock," Remus answered a little fuzzily. "Also, I'm used to pain." He felt warm hands on his face.

"Sit up, Remi, it makes me nervous when you lay back all cold and pale," Sirius said, leaning down and kissing his forehead, tucking the blanket more tightly around him for at least the tenth time.

"Alright, help me up again then." Remus sighed. He wanted so badly to lay back and sleep. He hurt terribly, a whole new set of pains as his leg was freed. He could smell his own blood flowing fresh again. He was cold, and the tense shivering made every bump and bruise scream in agony. He felt Sirius' hands slip under his shoulders and lever him up to a seated position again. Remus opened his eyes slowly and took a deep breath, before starting to patch himself up as best he could.

It took a while, for him to wrap up the open wounds with the bandage, then use James' wand to cast _ferula_, summoning the supplies that then splinted the lower half of his leg themselves. He needed another moment of rest after that, the pain eating away at his already depleted reserves. Sirius held him, rubbing his arms to try to warm them.

"Now, pants please." Remus insisted, when he was ready to move again without worrying that he might pass out. Reluctantly James handed him the pair of boxers he'd found in the satchel.

"Do I even want to know why you carry extra pants with you?" James asked, shaking his head.

"For occasions like this. Also, for things like falling in a puddle or dumping something in your lap. Wouldn't do me any good to change my trousers if my pants were still soaked, eh?" Remus shrugged and leaned forward, managing to draw his pants on, lifting his hips just enough to get them on.

"Here," Sirius shifted away a moment, slipping out of his robe, then putting it on Remus. "There, now you're almost proper dressed." Sirius shivered just a little without the added warmth of his robe over his clothes, but it was a small sacrifice to make under the circumstances.

"Thanks, Si," Remus said, slipping his arms into it. "Now help me to my feet… foot… would you?"

Both boys helped lever him to stand on his one good foot, James bracing him as Sirius fastened the robe in the front, then wrapped the blanket around him again, before dashing off to grab his broom. Sirius mounted up and drifted the couple feet over next to James and Remus. It took a little maneuvering, but finally Remus was situated across Sirius' lap, settled in his arms.

"I could ride astride you know," the werewolf muttered, but couldn't find it in him to complain too much, as he wrapped his arms around Sirius' neck and rested his head on one strong shoulder.

"And risk you falling, no way," Sirius shook his head. Once Remus was settled, James got his broom and mounted up as well. Once they were in the air, James paced Sirius.

"Listen mate, we've got things fixed so no one can blame you. Pete and I kicked the door of the shack in, so it looks like someone tried to break in, then Padfoot chewed and scratched his way out. So, ya know, you can tell everyone that you just went there like you usually do. I dunno what'll be more plausible, if you say you have no idea, or if you think that Moony dug his way out… whatever makes the most sense. No one has to know anything." James said as they flew.

"Yeah, I've got a mouth full of splinters." Sirius grimaced. "Which I'm starting to notice now that I'm not pissing myself about you."

"Thank you… thank you," Remus bit his lip, feeling terribly guilty over it all. "Tell Lily. She'll be able to fix you up, Sirius, get the splinters out at least. Use some mouthwash after she does, it'll be a bitch, but it'll make sure nothing will get infected. Have they summoned my parents, do you think?"

"I'm sure they have, Rem," James said with a shake of his head. "Everyone was real wrought up, thought the worst, I'm sure."

"Gods, I hope my da' hasn't rounded up a posse." Remus chewed his lip. There was no hope for it now, though, he supposed.

They flew back to the castle carefully. It was a fairly easy flight, as they stayed well above the canopy of the forest and simply headed for the beacon of light that was Hogwarts. Sirius aimed not for the main door of the castle, but instead, headed for a window on the first floor, flying around the outside of the castle until he reached a window that looked into the hospital wing.

"Good idea," James nodded, maneuvering around Sirius and Remus and pointing his wand at the window and _Alohamora-ing_ the window open. He slipped his fingers between the sill and the window and drew it open the rest of the way.

"Thanks, Siri," Remus whispered, looking up at him in the light from the hospital wing. He lifted a hand and touched Sirius' cheek. "My hero."

"Like you ever need saving, Moony." Sirius scoffed, looking away a moment to hide the emotion he could feel heating his eyes and knotting his throat.

"Oh, once and a while," Remus replied with a smile.

"Okay, okay, enough, Merlin, you two are disgusting. You're going to rot my teeth. Get the hell in there already." James groused, giving Sirius' shoulder a push. He laughed, before carefully flying himself and Remus through the window.

"Madam P!" He called. "Madam P, we've got Remus, we found him, he's hurt!" Sirius didn't bother to dismount until he was next to the bed that Remus typically occupied when he was here, off in a private corner, with a curtain that pulled all the way around. James landed with them, helping to steady Sirius' broom as he dismounted with Remus in his arms. It took both boys to get their friend settled in the bed without bumping his wounded foot on anything. Madam Pomfry came bustling out to them just as Remus laid back.

"Boys! My goodness! Remus! Where have you been, what in Merlin's name happened to you?" She was already feeling his forehead, his pulse, flicking her wand and summoning a blood pressure cuff. "One of you go straight to the Headmaster's office, he'll want to know immediately. Professor McGonagall is up there along with the Lupins. Hurry now."

"You go, Sirius, I'd better go tell Lily and Peter. She'll have my balls if she isn't in the know." James said. Sirius hesitated a moment, not wanting to face the Headmaster, his Head of House, and least of all Mum Lupin and Remus' da'. The adults knew none of went on during the full moon, though, the cover story they'd made up would pass muster, as long as no one looked at it too hard. Lily, on the other hand, knew exactly what they were up to, and would be furious and ready to blame himself and James. Yes, the adults were the better option.

"I'll be back, okay?" Sirius said to Remus, touching his shoulder briefly. Their adventures and animagi status weren't the only secrets that the Marauders were hiding.

"I'll be fine. Go, before me da' declares war on the British… again…" Remus gave a ghost of a smile, making a shooing motion with his hand. "You, ah, better run," The werewolf looked nervous and Sirius didn't blame him. Even if his own parents had loved him like Remus' parents loved Remus he would have been very nervous to face them. Sirius flashed his friend a reassuring smile, before darting out of the hospital wing.

Author's Note: Part three coming soon! Originally I'd planned for this to only be two parts, but I would like to introduce the Lupin parents, as I happen to adore them. In retrospect, I could have made this a stand-alone fic, but oh well  Also, please be sure to leave reviews, I know lots of folks are reading, but the best way to draw in new readers is to have lots of reviews! Thanks everyone!


End file.
